DSW

1) Doug Wilbur 2) Bucks Co Pa ( just north of Philly) 3) Hobby blacksmith concentrating on hardware and tooling 4) Got started in Jr high school in Poulsbro Wa where the school shop had both a gas forge and casting furnace. 5) I have a 50 lb Fisher that was my grandfathers. 6) 1st forge is a steel railroad forge I fabricated myself. 7) I took a class with Warren Holzman at a local college last 2 years to get me back into forging,

Andrew it's not hard to add quick connects to machines like that. You can buy tweeco connectors that allow you to add cable or connect a tig torch if need be. I added a set to my old Miller Thunderbolt so I could use any of the extra leads from my other stick welders if I had to.

Beautiful work. Out of curiosity what is the ball park cost to have something like that cast commercially? I've always wondered what having something like that done would cost with setup and so on.

His machine is AC only. That "cluster" is a DC rectifier to chop the AC current so the machine produces DC vs AC. It had me going too at 1st until I spotted the caption in his 1st pict with the machine. Most conversions I've seen, the user mounts the rectifier inside the case vs on a separate "panel".

Heavy truck tires get inflated to much higher PSI ratings than typical passenger tires. The tires on My F550 are "low" at around 80 PSI. As far as bending the rims, hit a curb right and it's not hard to beat up the bead on the rim. Hit it hard enough and bend the rim enough and the tire will deflate. I can show you some ugly dents on edges of steel rims from hitting curbs while plowing. Plow and fronts tend to ride over a curb, but the rears don't fare as well. I think his comment on the alum rims was in response to my comment on not using a damaged rim on the steering wheels of the truck. Loss of a tire on the back, especially with duallies isn't a big deal, but have a catastrophic loss of a steering tire and you are in for an ugly day. Doesn't sound like that is an issue in this case.

You can also simplify your wiring nightmare. get yourself an old soda bottle or oil container and route the tig torch cable thru the neck. Then simply reach in with the stinger and clamp to the power block. I'll try and dig up a pict to make it clearer. As far as the ground, you can simply attach that to to work and skip the extra connection. Edit: Ah I now see your wiring nightmare is where you added the rectifiers... This thread here covers all the basics for this sort of rig.... http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=38106

That kind of rig only works on DC stick units. Looks like an Ac only Lincoln, but I see in your PDF you added a rectifier to go to DC. I hate to tell you, but for $400, plus the cost of the welder, you probably could have found a dedicated tig and had more output and more control. Down side of those stick machines is that they are tapped units. You only get a fixed amperage. "Better" machines like Dialarcs and Idealarcs are infinitely variable units and give you more control over your amps. Most dedicated tigs also allow you to use a remote like a pedal to vary the amperage while welding. With fixed amperage units like you have, your only control over heat is to increase/decrease arc length, change travel speed, or use the filler to chill the puddle. Don't get me wrong adding a tig torch to a DC stick machine is a good way to get into tig relatively inexpensively. Basic rigs like this are used daily in the field to make code quality welds. However converting an AC unit to DC, then going with a heavy tig torch is an expensive way to end up with a 2nd rate tig unit. As far as amps with what you have, use the 1 amp per .001" rule to get you close, then go with the closest tap below that number. It's a lot easier to "add" head than to subtract it with fixed amperage tigs. If you increase your arc length and slow your travel speed, you will effectively increase the heat you are adding to the piece. This allows you to "back off" if need be by decreasing the arc length and speeding up. If your amps are too high however, you are much more limited in how you can cool things down. You can only decrease your arc length so much, and most newer tig welders have issues when you strat trying to go faster and faster. Jumping up to oversized filler to help chill the puddle often ends up with problems where you get the weld too cold and simply melt the filler with the arc vs melting it with the puddle.

Heavy steel truck rims will take a fair amount of abuse. I've knocked out smaller dents from rims in the past with no issues. I never hit one bad enough though to flatten a tire though. I'd be leery about something like that on a steering tire, especially with tubeless tires. A tire with a tube wouldn't be as much of an issue since it's doubtful you'd have a catastrophic loss of air if you did have a rim failure. On a rear with duallies, tire loss isn't quite as bad under average conditions.

I like the look of those John.

Bentonite is frequently used by well drillers to set well casings. You might stop by a local driller and ask if they will sell you a bag. As mentioned most comercial masonry supply houses will carry fire clay.

Welcome. I spent 5 years out in Keyport Wa when my dad was stationed out there in the early 80's. In fact I got started in smithing because the Jr high I went to in Poulsbo had both a gas forge and gas foundry setup. I took every shop class I could while out there. I loved the area and would love one day to go back. My guess is it's no where near what it was like when I lived out there. Now it's all probably built up heavily. I know it was starting to when we left. Try Searchtempest.com to expand your CL search. It lets you put in a search term to look for. "Anvil" or "Blacksmithing" are two common searches I use, and a distance from your zipcode you are willing to go. I usually set mine to about 100 miles unless I'm seriously on a search for a specific item. Sometimes playing with the search terms can bring up unexpected results because people misspelled something.. You;'d be surprised how many "ARK" welders I've seen listed. :D

Only issue I've found with "generic" tags on sections is that at some point people will start moving things around. In some cases it's unintentional. They pick up a piece and want to put it "back", yet stick it in the wrong spot. In other cases I've seen people deliberately play "shell games" and try and mix up stuff so they can claim you had it tagged wrong and insist you sell it for a lower price. They want to make a scene and make you look like the bad guy if you try and stay firm. Sad there are people like this out there, but expect the worst... "cheap" sales like markets often bring out some of the worst customers looking to get bargains on already good deals. Many of the worst ones are dealers who plan to resell stuff back at their own shop later. They'll beat you up over a dollar or two and then go home and put $25 or more on top of the cost of a $5 item... Now having said that, individual tags can be a PITA, expensive and distracting from a nice display. On multiple small items in some cases it's not worth it. It's better to have a clear "generic" sign, preferably one with a clear picture of the priced item vs individual tags. Larger more individual pieces can rate individual tags, preferably with a brief description so someone can't pull a tag switch. In some ways it's easier to simply not have prices listed, but personally I hate that as a consumer. Someone can't move tags if they aren't there, but then you constantly have to tell people over and over again the cost of a $4 hook... What we found seemed to work best at Scuba flea markets was a generic tag with pict on plastic bins of bulk items. I bit "cheap" looking for wrought iron merchandise I agree, but I could see something done for your block of hooks like this. More expensive mid range items usually just got a generic tag. In some cases a color code system worked well, either colored tags, electrical tape or zip ties. A sign added elsewhere gave the pricing schedule. Red was say $10, Blue $15, Yellow $20 and so on. Tape and zip ties tended to be the hardest to remove vs string tags. The stick on dots they sell at stationary stores generally worked poorly on irregular shaped items unless the dot could wrap all the way around and attach to itself. Very expensive items got their own individual tag with description and price. We'd also often mark them with a special color zip tie to note an individual price on a tag. That or they would be marked without a price and customers would have to inquire on a specific item.

Pex is pretty stout and I doubt vibration alone would cause many issues. If the floor cracks and settles, then I could see issues. It sounds though like he isolated the base pads from the rest of the slab, so I doubt the pex runs thru them.

Feel free to post up all your items. Never hurts to give someone else ideas for themselves later. Price wise it looks in line with the hooks you posted earlier to me.

Very nice. You'll love the in floor heat if you have never had it before. When and if I ever get to do my own shop, that's what I plan to do. I probably don't need to tell you this, but I'll do so anyways. The one down side of radiant floor is the fact you have to be very careful if you need to later anchor something down. I'm dealing with this issue now as the guy I used to work for put radiant flooring in his basement. He passed away 2 years ago and now his wife wants to finish the basement off and put in stud walls etc. When he was alive and we went to move the staircase, he had laid out the tube to avoid where he thought the stairs should go. However as far as we know he never gave any thought to other walls etc. That leaves us with only two options, gamble we don't drill too deep and hit the tube, or glue down the walls and hope the glue is strong enough to keep things in place when we start adding the heavy storage shelves... The only thing I have as a reference is a few in progress picts I took while helping do the work. Supposedly he had more picts for tube location reference, but no one has located them yet.

Maillemaker I really like that one. I've got a good friend whose son is big into trains and his wife is big into "country folk art" type stuff. I think I may have just found his Christmas present for this year. I'm adding that pict to my projects folder.

Thanks.

There is a threshold limit to how many BTU's you can pump out of say an open flame propane or natural gas space heater or fireplace before it has to be vented. Same applies to say a gas range/oven. A very small forge might come in under those limits, but I'd guess a decent sized one wouldn't. As others have mentioned there are quite a few issues using gas heating appliances unvented in a home. Consequences can be very serious and many things like CO poisoning or O2 depletion can sneak up on people unawares. I remember a few years back where several guests at a local hotel died as a result of CO poisoning due to a propane job site heater the masons were using in the tent outside the rooms they were staying in.

In that case you might want to think about some way to make the ballast "portable". Lead shot bags would add weight, yet still be portable individually. They could be added to the "cup" mentioned above and hidden easily or even just tossed across the legs even though this isn't an elegant solution. We used to often use 8 lb lead shot bags to stabilize our displays for dive shows. The weights were simply repurposed soft dive weights that are commercially available. Cast lead feet that attach would be a more elegant solution to the problem. If this is for an outdoor event, water makes a great portable ballast... It's heavy and easy to transport and self forms to fit odd spaces. Just pull the plug and drain when done... Making it in parts that can be assembled could gain you two things. One you can keep the base heavy and still be portable, and two with it disassembled it's easier to transport in a vehicle and store between shows. Something like I originally envisioned you were talking about that is 5 to 6 feet tall with 18 to 24" legs attached would be a PITA to transport even in a truck or van. Make the legs/base removable and make the post so it can be broken down and the same unit could be transported in a car trunk no problem.

There are all sorts of options for metal that can be used out in the elements. The material you choose may depend on the finish you are looking to achieve. 304/316 stainless might be one option, especially if you want a shiny bright "modern" finish. Cor-ten steel that weathers to a rust finish might be another option. If you plan to paint or powdercoat, just about any steel might do. Then there are nonferous materials like bronze, monel and so on...

Very nice. Out of curiosity how big was the original stock? I've been thinking about trying one and was wondering how much stock I might need so I can either pick some up or dig thru my scrap pile.

Not so much optimism as lots of experience with retail, flea markets, trade shows and so on. Stuff laying flat on the table can be hard to see if there is a crowd of people standing in front of your booth. They don't even have to be looking at your product to block the view. This is especially true at shows and markets where the isles are narrow and there is a good sized turnout. Simply people moving from A to B will block what you are selling to many. then there are the ones who will just look, but aren't interested in buying. They also block the view of interested customers. People won't buy your stuff if they don't know you have it. 1st trick is to get them to come over and look. Having merchandise, displays, signs or similar "attractants" that can be clearly seen from a distance is your 1st line of offense. Once the customers come over and start looking, now's the time to hook them with items of interest. Doing demo's o working on product also works well, but not all places will accept the noise/smoke etc, so that can be of limited value. Next time you go to a market, take a look at how stuff is merchandised. You'll probably note that vendors with the most customers have fairly decent layouts for product. One other thing that's good to have on hand I didn't mention earlier is a portfolio of other work you've done in the past. You can either leave it open on the table, or have it available to show people what you can do. I wished I'd started taking good clean clear photo's of my work earlier in my career. I lost the opportunity to show case some really spectacular stuff because I didn't bother to document it until it was too late to do so. Now I try to photograph as much as possible after completion as well as a few process picts. A clean white sheet makes a nice simple backdrop for picts without distractions.

Downside I see to ceiling mounts or hanging it is that many stores have drop ceilings and it's not convenient to hang something heavy. Some what the same thing applies to wall braces. It's often not convenient to attach to walls because of other store fixtures. Another point is that free standing displays are often moved around to make room for other displays etc, so a free standing unit that is self contained makes the most sense. It might even pay to think about a display that can be broken down for storage in some situations.

Only down side to flat plate is it seldom sits well if the floor is uneven. A few small "feet" under the plate will solve that issue however. What you are doing is putting a large mass at the bottom to counteract any forces applied at the top. Heavy weight down low, like big ball and claw feet or a thick center column at the bottom would do something similar. Make the base a large coffee mug and fill it solid or let them use it for some other sort of "bulk" item for sale... The farther out the hooks stick out from the column, the more length to your legs or mass you'll need to counteract any forces.

Option 2 would be to have several smaller pots all ready to go at once vs just one large pot. I use the bottom part of an old steel O2 cylinder as my large lead pot for smelting down bullet scrap and old lead pipe. It's probably only 5-6" in dia and maybe 6" tall. I know it holds at least 20 lbs of lead and still has a decent reserve to continue melting down more.